Preseason Week 2 vs. Buffalo
Ya know, there are so many foes out there that disgust me more than the Buffalo Bills do. The Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Dallas Cowboys, and New England Patriots all come to mind when I ponder that subject. Hell, I’ll even go as far as to say…I like Bills’ Mafia. Wild bunch. And yet, I just can’t get the taste of that loss in the Wild Card round of last year’s playoffs out of my mouth. Fuck the Buffalo Bills. And, fuck Mitch Trubisky, too.
With that in mind, I don’t care that it’s just the preseason…I would like to see us kick the Bills’ ass tomorrow night. And, I like our odds.
Coach Mike Tomlin addressed the media yesterday ahead of tomorrow night’s game against the Buffalo Bills at Heinz Field (yes, I’m aware of the change…we do not care).
Tomlin dove right into division of labor in this one, saying that he’s approaching this game with an “inclusive mentality” for all that are healthy enough to participate. Even Russell Wilson, who we haven’t seen much of due to a lingering leg injury, is slated to see some reps and has been declared the Steelers’ starting QB for this game. Coach also stated that the first-team guys are going to play “roughly four” series, although he emphasized that the number of reps each guy might see is not set in stone. Still, it’ll be nice to get a good look at everyone in a stadium atmosphere.
In my opinion, Russell Wilson is going to have to come out with some fire, because he could be at risk of losing that starting job if he doesn’t. Many probably think that’s an overreaction, but if tomorrow was week 1 of the regular season, who do you think would start? The fact is that this coaching staff has had exposure to Justin Fields all throughout training camp, and through the first preseason game. In that preseason game, he certainly could’ve been better (one play in particular where Van Jefferson had to reach backwards for a ball on the sideline that was ruled incomplete), but as long as you’re not box score watching, he didn’t play a bad game. The two fumbles were badly placed snaps by Nate Herbig, and the two sacks he took weren’t like Kenny Pickett spinning out of the pocket to his left. And, while we’re making a case for Justin Fields, we might as well throw in that he has been SHARP all throughout training camp. Moral of the story is that Justin Fields has slowly but surely stolen the heart of yinzers everywhere, and regardless of what that depth chart says, he will be the starter in week 1 if Russ doesn’t come out swinging with the opportunities he’s finally getting as that calf heals up.
Since I just mentioned Herbig’s struggles in last week's game, it’s worth noting that he is dealing with an upper body injury that held him out of yesterday’s joint practice against the Bills. Although he’s described as day-to-day, this could be the opportunity that rookie center Zach Frazier needs to make his case for the starting spot. Frazier was able to snap the ball cleanly in relief of Herbig in last week’s preseason game, and he did extremely well as the starter in the joint practice yesterday. My eyes will be on #54 during tomorrow’s game.
Another jersey I’ll be looking out for will be #41, Payton Wilson, who was all over the football like flies on shit in the first preseason game. Omar Khan has already cemented himself as one of the best GMs in football. Second year in, and he filled our inside linebacker spot with two STARS in the making in Payton Wilson, and Patrick Queen; a position that we’ve been weak at for the better portion of the last DECADE. Who needs ligaments in knees? Not Payton Wilson. His football instincts, and the speed at which he attacks the ball…are just special. And, as for Patrick Queen, I still can’t believe we have him. I think he’s the most impactful pickup we’ve had since the addition of Minkah Fitzpatrick in 2019, and it’s going to be so wild to see him in the black and gold for an actual stadium game tomorrow night.
The main emphasis that can be drawn about this game from Coach Tomlin’s press conference is the “cleanliness” in which the team plays. He cites the bad snaps by the offense, and the numerous errors by the special teams as prime examples of what he doesn’t want to see in tomorrow night’s game against the Bills. Enough of the “Steelers beating Steelers”. He even went as far as calling the special teams “JV” in last week’s game against the Texans.
It sucks how bad some of the execution was last week, seeing as prior to last week’s game, he said that he wanted to put an emphasis on cleanliness, which clearly didn’t work out in his favor. Needless to say, those are all things that are going to have to be cleaned up before roster cut-downs happen on August 27th.
Lastly, I’m sure we’ll get a little bit of Josh Allen vs. Russell Wilson to start this game out. That’ll be a good time. However, after that, we should get quite a bit of Justin Fields vs. Mitch Trubisky, which makes for a fun little storyline. So, I just wanted to say as a closing statement: Fuck Mitch Trubisky. I hope Mike Tomlin and Teryl Austin throw the entire defensive playbook at that dickhead, and he gets nothing but backwards plays.
Preseason. Steelers. Bills. Roster cuts incoming. Here. We. Go.
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